Shepherd X Clown[Altair/Job]

Spoiler:

Alright ya salty dogs, we're settin' sail so anyone with second thoughts better jump ship now!" the captain of the ship shouted over the deck to the group of men whom had signed up to hunt down the black flagged pirate ship spotted earlier that day. There were many men whom accepted the job and joined this little strike team. Each of the men had their own goals and reasons for taking such a dangerous job. Some desired money, others wanted fame or to impress a young lady, and some were just there to have a good brawl.

Zafar fell somewhat closer to that last category although "brawl" was perhaps too light a term to describe what the clone-like assassin wanted. His read hair barely moved in the wind as his yellow eyes remained locked on a deck of cards he was shuffling. Most of the men were getting rowdy and drinking near the bow of the ship, but Zafar stood out all by his lonesome sitting on a crate on the starboard side. There were any number of reasons to approach him from his unique appearance to the strange metal rings worn tightly around various parts of his body, but something about the creepy smile on his face was keeping most of the other hired fighters at bay.

~219/1000~

((The other hired fighters are going to get wiped out instantly more or less, they are just there because the job claims a group was hired.))

Altair heard the captain call for those applying to get on board and sighed. he wasn't supposed to be here anyways, as fighting wasn't really his style. he preferred to work out his problems socially than physically. but there had been no work to do in the herd, so he had been sent out to make some money. he walked onto the deck, and looked around. there were several other men, and even a few women aboard the boat, all looking for fortune or fame. there was one man who looked a little out of place however. he was sitting on a barrel shuffling a stack of cards, and people seemed to be giving him a wide berth. Altair wasn't piteous, no, instead he was excited to meet a black sheep in a white flock.

He approached the man, and took up a position leaning beside him, setting his staff to the side. "It's rather pleasant today isn't it? the waves are calm, and the air is clear. it's times like these where i wish i could just sit down with a friend and enjoy it all." he hoped that his friendliness would open the man up a bit. having an ally for the coming battle would be an excellent advantage.

~220/500~

The solitude Zafar's unique appearance and cold unwelcoming aura provided was rather enjoyable for the assassin whom sought only his next meal. The sociopathic clown wanted to taste the flesh of another person as his own muscles are torn and tattered. Each shuffling of the deck, Zafar was simply reliving memories of past duels and bouts as appetizers for the potential meals this supposed group of pirates would be. When that personal time was ended by the approach of a soft and kind looking man, Zafar was a bit irritated. How had this man not gotten then hint that everyone else seemed to know as common sense? Zafar wasn't here for small talk, let alone from a weakling.

The man before him had that do gooder smile of a simple fool and seemed to possess no weapons or tools for combat save for a shepards staff which would do no good in a fight. Yellow eyes squinted sharp with ill intent pierced a gaze in the stranger's direction. Despite the cold glare, the rest of Zafar's face showed no emotion aside from a stoic frown as he spoke, "No wonder why you have no friends sitting with you then. You've got terrible manners." Zafar's tongue was sharp and his words were meant to sting so that he might drive this nuisance away. As the red haired fighter looked down at the deck he shuffled it a bit more before drawing a card. The Jack of Spades. Zafar's frown deepened a bit as he thought over the rules of a game he'd created years ago. Since he was often a terrible judge of character, Zafar based his opinions on those approaching him by the signs of luck surrounding them. An individual who brought strong luck was often one whom could offer Zafar the most in terms of battle or other uses.

The Jack of Spades was not the luckiest draw, but it was a face card meaning Zafar now had to assign this stranger some value. Instead of blowing him off entirely, Zafar sighed and asked, "Introduce yourself and I may tell you my name..." The assassin started off blankly into space in a direction away from the stranger as he waited for a reply.

~593/1000~

Although the man meant to cut with his words, Altair wasn't affected in the slightest. he simply ignored the insult and thought instead about what it meant. he was instantly defensive, meaning that he either has something to hide, or he thought of Altair as a threat. given his current demeanor however, it likely wasn't the latter. at the moment, he had no way to discover what he might be hiding either, so for now he put that thought aside. he observed the man draw a card from the deck and study it. could the cards have some kind of religious value to him? like a way to tell the future, or discern intent? whatever it was, it appeared to take favor in him, as the man asked for his name.

Altair blushed slightly at forgetting to mention his name, and laughed slightly as his folly. "Haha, i'm sorry about that. it's Altair. he looked the man over once again. he looked limber, but not weak. the kind of limber that comes with years of acrobatics and strengthening. he wasn't someone to take lightly. bringing his attention back to the conversation he asked, "So what's your name then? and, if i may be so bold, how did i do?" he said, gesturing to the card he had pulled.

Zafar made an intentional effort to keep his gaze averted from the shepard and looking elsewhere. He didn't want this man mistaking Zafar's willingness to talk for a desire to do so. When Altair gave only a first name Zafar replied in kind. The assassin didn't know if Alair even had a last name to give as family names were more for the wealthy and the privileged in some parts of the world, but even if that were the case Zafar would still have taken this "equivalent exchange" approach. "My name is Zafar..." Boredom seeped and oozed from every syllable the red haired fighter spoke.

When Altair gestured to the card and inquired on it's significance Zafar scoffed, "You're quite presumptuous aren't you? What makes you think this card has anything to do with you?" While the clown didn't exactly straight out deny the card had determined Altair's worth, he replied in a manner that didn't admit to it either. Instead, he chose to focus on the "flaw" behind the man's assumption, although perhaps it would be better interpreted as instinct. Sadly, Zafar was letting himself be blinded by appearances and circumstance. He was unable to measure the true value behind Altair's soft exterior and kind impression. "Such assumptions could get you killed on a job like thise. Maybe you should jump ship and flee now while we're still close to port..."  The clown made a sick smile as he thought of a final line to add, "If you swim fast enough, perhaps the sharks wont tear you apart~"

With that, Zafar stood up and then swiftly threw the Jack of Spades through the air causing it to land between the wooden boards that made up the deck just before Altair's feet. The assassin would ignore any further attempts to communicate as he moved for the rigging and began climbing up to the ships sails where no one else would bother him.

((Feel free to time skip us to the island where the pirates are hiding out in your next post. Don't worry, Zafar will get less anti-social once blood starts spilling.))

~915/1000~

Heh, a black sheep indeed. the man was unique, and piqued Altair's interest to no end. however, it seemed that their time together was over for now. he knelt down to pull up the card from the ground that Zafar had thrown. it was pretty well lodged in there, but he was able to pull it out. the Jack of Spades. not a bad pull if he did say so himself. he pocketed the card. he'd return it to Zafar later.

it only took about an hour before they reached the island where the pirates were supposed to be. Altair followed the men from the deck onto the shore, and was instructed to get to work. they didn't know where the pirates would be hiding, so they would have to start by searching the island for some kind of hideout. Altair thought to himself, "where would a sheep go to get lost?" and then immediately after that thought, "i need to stop comparing things to sheep." but then something struck him. maybe he was right. sheep often get lost by falling into crevasses or valleys from higher places. if he used the same thought process here, he might have a good chance of finding them. he tried to grab a few of the other men to come with him, but they all refused, saying "What good is a shepherd in a fight?" So Altair went alone.

Altair got to one of the higher points on the island and looked around. from where he was, he could see most of the men looking in caves or thick brush, the obvious places. But people, he found, were generally not stupid. if they wanted to hide, they would be in a difficult place to get to. Altair was just about to continue looking when he saw something strange. on the rocks below him, there appeared to be a hole. you wouldn't be able to see it if you weren't right on top of it. "perfect." thought Altair. this was likely the place where they were hiding. he would have to go alone for now, but he decided to leave a hint for anyone else who started walking this way. he took out the Jack of Spades and positioned it so that the Jack's sword was pointing in the direction of the hole. once done, Altair began to climb down the hole.

Once inside, he could hear men speaking. he inched slowly along the walls of the cave until he saw a light. a small campfire was set up and all five pirates were sitting around it. Altair began to backtrack, to get back to the surface to tell the others when he heard one of the pirates say, "Hey Boris, hold my rum. i'm gonna go take a piss." Altair ran back down to the beginning of the cave and scurried out the hole. he pulled out his Rod and when the head of the pirate came out of the hole, he stuck him on the back of the neck, using a technique he had learned to kill bears. one down. four to go.

Slay the Bear:

When the ship settled ashore it did so next to the pirate's own vessel. Everyone disembarked save for Zafar whom had climbed his way up to the crows nest by now. From there he would be able to watch everyone else with his predatorial golden yellow eyes. The assassin thought it strange that no one made the effort to search the pirate's ship simply because no one was top side on the deck. Instead, the hired hands split up to search the island in groups or alone depending on the circumstances. As the search party split up, Zafar noticed the shepard from before was going off on his own. It seemed like the unwise decision of a man far too over confident in himself to Zafar. What could a weakling whom sends his days tending gentiles do if he encountered the pirates all by himself?

After a few minutes passed with no sign of battle breaking out anywhere on the island Zafar finally decided to descend and begin searching himself. The acrobat swiftly climbed down to the deck and then flipped off the starboard side of the ship landing knee deep in sea water. "Tch, I hate having wet feet..." The red head complained before heading inland. It would take quite some time before Zafar could make it to the vantage point Altair had spotted the pirate's hiding place in. Plenty of time for the shepard to get in over his head. Upon arriving there, the card Altair had left in place caught the assassin's eye. The card was pointing over the ledge and at first Zafar wondered if Altair had tripped over the edge and fallen to injury or death. However upon further inspection, Zafar spotted the hole which led down into the hide out. It was then that he realized the card had been left behind as a marker. A smirk appeared over the assassin's typically stoic expression and his eyes narrowed as he spoke to himself, "Perhaps the shepherd was smarter than I gave credit..."

Zafar then dropped down into the hole approximately 10 minutes after Altair had.

~1000+/1000~

Altair had crawled back into the hole after taking care of the first pirate. he wasn't dead, rather sleeping and tied to a tree. if he could avoid it, he would like to take the pirates alive.

the plan to continue seemed simple enough. either he would wait until they drank themselves to sleep, or he could take them out one by one as they left to exit the cave. well, that was the plan at first. but the pirates didn't seem to distracted by the fact that their buddy was gone. and they appeared to be out of rum. "But why is the rum gone?" asked one of the pirates. they all thought this was hilarious for some reason, and proceeded to fall over laughing. Altair was just about to try to grab someone to help him, when Zafar of all people showed up. Zafar hopped into the hole with almost no sound. Altair motioned for him to come over, and whispered the situation to him. "So, one of the pirates is outside tied to a tree, and these four are drunk enough between them to kill an elephant. We could probably take them between the two of us, but there might be a way to get them without killing them. do you have any ideas?

When Zafar descended into the dark hole he was not fully sure what to expect, however what he certainly didn't expect was to find Altair only a few feet away peeking around a corner. The clownish assassin had a genuine look of surprise on his face for a brief moment, but quickly recollected himself as Altair spoke and he came to understand the situation. While the shepherd had proven himself to have some intelligence by leaving the card behind, he'd also now proven himself a coward in Zafar's eyes. It didn't matter how many pirates were around the corner of the underground passage or how drunk they were. That he was hiding rather than fighting was enough to lower what little respect Zafar had garnered for Altair thus far. "Tch, if you want to play games, do it elsewhere." Zafar said after sucking his teeth. The man didn't even try to keep his voice down causing the pirates to overhear him.

"Floki, that you?" Boris called out as all the pirates reached for their swords cautiously. Zafar would reach out to grab Altair's shoulder before pulling him out of the way and stepping into the torch lit cavern where the remaining four pirates were resting. "Soooooorry~ Boris is dead, just like you're all about to be..." A devilish smile came over Zafar as the drunk pirates got to their feet and drew their weapons. After a day of boredom he could finally let loose, even if it was against a bunch of small fry opponents. Executing a technique of his Fundamentals of Fire Zafar performed an acrobatic leap through the air towards the group of salty sea dogs. His body would seem to float unnaturally in the are and he twisted his body performing a series of ten kicks and punches dealing D-tier damage at least twice to each of the men before landing opposite on the group. By the time Zafar landed in a crouched position and stood to his feet, each of the pirates fell to the cold stone floor unconscious.

The while the pirates were now knocked out cold, Zafar was not done. He reached for one of the pirates cutlass' and wrenched it from the mans hand before raising it high in the air. Zafar was about to cut all of their heads off as it would be far easier to carry skulls back to the ship than bodies. The only person there who could even begin to stop him was Altair.

Spoiler:

"No, wait!" shouted Altair, but Zafar either couldn't hear him, or refused to listen.  as Zafar brought the blade down on the first man, it was all Altair could do to get in between Zafar and the pirate, by using a technique he had learned to slay wolves.  Altair attempted to jam the Rod into Zafar's stomach, but suffered a cut from the sword to his back.  he grunted, the pain was excruciating, but he stood strong.  it felt the same as being raked by claws, something that had happened one to many times for his liking.  he looked at Zafar and said, "There are a few things you learn while being a good shepherd.  the first is that you respect life.  you do not kill anything you absolutely do not have too.  and do not call it weak.  it is easy to kill something.  it takes a much stronger man to let them live.  Altair wasn't in the mood for a fight, but he couldn't just let Zafar kill these men.  he took a step back, and leveled his Rod at Zafar's head, pain from the cut causing him to wince as he did so.  "You kill them, I kill you."  Just because he didn't want to fight, didn't mean he wouldn't.  and he was always followed through on his threats.

Okami o Korosu:

The Shepherd's attack to Zafar's stomach would be met with several brass rings which caused a slight clash which would knock the assassin of balance, however no injuries were sustained and a simple step backwards with one foot was more than enough to regain his composure. Altair would not be so lucky. The falling blade intended for the pirates head was moving too fast for the clownish killer to stop it's path before cutting into the man's back as he protected these salty criminals. Still, Zafar did pull the slash just in time to only cut deeply enough to break skin and draw blood leaving Altair's back muscles still more or less intact.

Zafar glared down at Altair with piercing sharp eyes full of killing intent. The disgusted expression the killer held made it clear that the Shepherd's speech was falling on deaf ears. Yet, after staring in silence for a moment Zafar finally spit off to the side before tossing the sword to the floor. "Tch, fine. You can carry them all back to shore yourself then. Don't forget to give me credit for capturing these baffoons." And with that, the red haired man slipped into the shadows of the cave disappearing top side where he would return to the ship. Altair would have to carry all five of the pirates by himself or go get help to do so. As for why that was all the punishment Zafar dealt in response to being stopped, he did not want to be forced to kill Altair. Not yet. A smile danced along the killers face as he looked at the Jack of Spades, now in hand, and made a note to remember the shepherd's name.

Altair made a sigh of relief after Zafar had left. He didn't like fighting, but that didn't mean he wouldn't. Also, Zafar hadn't seemed affected by his words at all, which troubled Altair. It had implications that Zafar might take some kind of joy from killing. A scary thought indeed. He would have to watch out for him in the future.

Being a shepherd meant that Altair was physically strong, so it took little time for him to gather up the men and carry them back to the ship. And though he didn't like how Zafar acted, it didn't mean he wouldn't give credit where it was due. He told the job poster upon their return about how Zafar had dispatched them, and how he had found them. Having the men returned alive was a surprising turn of events for them, and they were glad that the men could be brought to justice instead of just killed.

Altair winced at the pain in his back. the cut wasn't very deep, but it was quite painful. He returned home after receiving his payment, and proceeded to bandage the wound. It was then he thought seriously about Zafar. The man was interesting, but potentially dangerous. He hoped that any future encounters between the two of them would be purely social.